GMs – have you ever GMd a game (not a gmless game) AND played a character in that game at once? As in a principal party member, not an npc. I honestly don't hate it but I'd love to hear others thoughts!
— Diana ➡️ Occasionally Awarewolf (@Superdillin) August 8, 2021
All the time. I love having an in-character voice in the party and bringing things to the table the other players want but aren’t covering. I also enjoy it as a player for the same reasons: Primarily giving the GM an active world building and guidance tool. 1/- But I will say right off the bat, my take is a GM can't play a PC in the game they're running. It's not possible. The GM controls the world's reaction to the PCs' decisions and actions, so the GM is controlling both sides of the equation when it comes to that character. 2/-
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) August 8, 2021
That makes the character by definition an NPC. Non-player character. It cannot, physically cannot interact with the game in the same way a player-controlled PC does. I kind of hate the term “DMPC” because it’s so misleading on that fundamental level. 3/- I get what it's saying, but what it's really describing is an allied NPC that's being misused to take the spotlight and let the GM actively push the PCs' direction. 4/-
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) August 8, 2021
Right now my Descent into Avernus campaign is a party of six. Two PCs, four allied NPCs.
It started two and two, because the players wanted to play just us for their return to DND after decades. Then they started recruiting interesting allies they made along the way. 5/5
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) August 8, 2021
See, I end up resenting having too many NPCs join the party as regular cast members. They become burdensome to run and track, there’s always a question of what they do in combat, and the PCs will throw them out as sacrifices when they don’t want to risk anything. I hate it. Find an NPC, bring them along for a bit, but don’t add a chain of 12 people just to be a damage soak in combat or a bargaining chip to save your own skin when things get rough—it takes away the stakes for the PCs.
It was one of the things I didn’t love about running Avernus—
— Jennifer Kretchmer (@dreamwisp) August 8, 2021
Lulu became the immediate “do you know the answer to this?”, she had (some) plot armor and a TON of power at a certain point, is there the whole time, and THEN you add 3-5 more NPCs constantly, plus a War Machine. It was far more juggling than I wanted to do. Next time…changes.(This is not a dig on the adventure, but rather how my group interacted with it, and the consequences for me as a DM.)
— Jennifer Kretchmer (@dreamwisp) August 8, 2021
Personally, I’ve tried to do this, but I am so focused on the non-me party that I forget my character is there. Most notably, that’s basically what happened during my time in the DM’s chair on Rivals. I kept forgetting about D’hani and she ended up in a wine and painting class XD This absolutely makes sense to me
— Diana ➡️ Occasionally Awarewolf (@Superdillin) August 9, 2021